


Shards

by ladygray99



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Carlos is a Good Boyfriend, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Domestic, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Episode: e033 Cassette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-21
Updated: 2014-02-21
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1218703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladygray99/pseuds/ladygray99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos heard the crack of the tape over the radio.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shards

**Author's Note:**

> First piece in the fandom

Carlos had been listening to the show. He always did. Cecil's voice had been the first he'd heard in Night Vale after driving through miles of desert, the radio getting nothing but static. 

Cecil's voice had been so sweet today, young and as innocent as one gets in Night Vale. So eager about his internship. Carlos had almost been able to hear his eyes roll while talking about his brother.

But Cecil doesn't have a brother, Cecil doesn't remember any internship. Carlos had heard the sharp crack of the plastic. He heard the fear and pain in Cecil's voice. He had no doubt that Cecil had had a brother, that he had somehow survived being a Night Vale Community Radio intern. But memory was a funny thing in Night Vale, just like time. It ignored any rules of science or logic and simply was.

He heard the key in the door and moved dinner off the stove. He'd been getting better at cooking without wheat & wheat by-products. It mainly involved hitting the gluten free and paleo diet recipe books. But as far as comfort food went it was hard to make substitutions. Peanut butter and jelly just doesn't taste the same on a corn tortilla. 

As soon as he'd heard the sounds at the end of that cassette he'd started making chicken soup, with rice instead of noodles. He'd also grabbed the first aid kit and Cecil's bag of blood stones. They calmed him. He rolled them around like those feng shui balls.

"Hey there!" Cecil had a broad grin and blood on his hands. They were clenched into tight fists. It wasn't the first time he'd come home bloody. "What smells great?"

"Chicken soup with rice."

Cecil's face stretched into a wider grin that was starting to look unnatural. "It's so neat living with you." He gave Carlos a kiss. 

"Sit down at the table."

Cecil sat and Carlos stat next to him. He pried Cecil's fists open. Jagged shards of plastic had been driven deep into the flesh. He didn't say a thing. Cecil didn't like talking about his injuries. He took the long tweezers and carefully drew out the shards. There were three pieces in Cecil's right hand. He cupped his palm so the blood pooled. Blood was dangerous in Night Vale. Carlos held out a cup for Cecil to pour his blood into so it could be properly disposed of. 

He pressed the bandage to Cecil's palm before carefully wrapping it.

"I don't have a brother," Cecil whispered.

"I know."

"I never had a brother."

"I Know." Carlos took Cecil's left hand. The damage wasn't as bad but it was still bloody.

"Memories are false. Memories lie. Lying memories can create things that aren't real, never were real, things that didn't happen, people who never existed, can never exist. "

Carlos fully believed that Cecil had a brother and that something happened to that brother; something happened to Cecil. One of those horrible things that only happen in Night Vale. 

He bandaged Cecil's left hand then kissed him right at the corner of his eye for just a moment blocking the view of what might be lurking there.

"I don't have a brother."

"I know."

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback please?


End file.
